UtahRails, J. C. Dick

James Chambers Dick, 63, prominent Salt Lake City mining engineer since the turn of the century, died of a lingering illness Wednesday evening [May 1st] at his home, 36 H street. He had been ill for several months.

Born in Fallsbrook, Pa., May 28, 1871, a son of Robert and Elizabeth Dick, natives of Scotland, he came to Utah in 1899, since when he had been prominently identified with the mining industry through the west. He was educated at Clarion State Normal school, Pennsylvania, and Lehigh university, from which he was graduated in 1895 as a civil engineer. During his college days he was prominent as an athlete and was a member of the Lehigh football and lacrosse teams.

Following his graduation he engaged in the coal mining business in Pittsburg, Kan., with the Kansas and Texas Coal company. Shortly thereafter he came to Salt Lake City, and in 1899 made a geological survey of the Clear Creek coal field for W. G. Sharp. He also made extensive surveys of the Uintah basin area, and in 1901 was a mining engineer for the Consolidated Mercur Gold Mines in Mercur.

He became chief engineer for the Utah Copper company in 1904 and remained in Bingham until 1906, when he resigned to go to Nevada, where he acted as consulting engineer for several mining firms. He returned to Bingham in 1907 to become general superintendent of the Yampa Mines and Smelter company, acting in that capacity until 1909.

The next year Mr. Dick leased the Telegraph mine in Bingham from the United States Mining company and built a cyanide mill in Bingham Canyon to treat the ores. He managed the mine and mill until 1914, when he again entered the consulting engineering field. Until 1919 he was engaged by a number of companies to examine metal and coal mines and his profession carried him through the west and to Mexico.

In May, 1919, Mr. Dick was summoned to Washington, D. C., to assist in valuation work on mines for the income tax division of the internal revenue department. He was appointed chief of the metal mines engineering section of the division in the fall of 1919 and a few months later was named head of the natural resources division, which was charged with valuing metal and coal mines, oil and gas wells, and timber lands for income tax purposes.

He returned to Salt Lake City in 1920 to reenter the practice of consulting engineer, and was particularly active in the Eureka mining field. From 1931 to 1932 he was manager of the Western Steel and Foundry company and in 1932 was appointed chief engineer for the Federal Barge Lines, operating on the Mississippi river, with headquarters in New Orleans. He remained in the latter position until a few months ago, when he resigned because of illness.

Mr. Dick also was associated with the Uncle Sam Consolidated Mining company and the May Day Mining and Milling company in Eureka, and at the time of his death was a director of the Independent Coal and Coke company and the Mutual Creamery company.

On November 25, 1903, Mr. Dick married Mathilde Dern, daughter of the late John Dern and sister of Secretary of War George H. Dern. He is survived by the widow, two children, Robert Dern Dick and Alice M. Dick, and a granddaughter, Nancy Noble Dick. His mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Dick, of Los Angeles; a brother, W. J. Dick, of St. Louis, and four sisters: Mary Dick O’Connor, Mrs. Edwin J. Thorne, Miss Isabelle Dick and Mrs. J. S. Alford, all of Los Angeles, also survive.

Mr. Dick was a member of the Masonic order, the Salt Lake chamber of commerce, the University, Alta and Salt Lake Country clubs. He also was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.